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I don't know about https://12factor.net https://12factor.net either. But I was assigned a task last year to remove configuration from environment variables (fo
by mrkeen 6y ago
I don't know about https://12factor.net https://12factor.net either.
But I was assigned a task last year to remove configuration from environment variables (for security reasons). I deployed my work to 'production'.
- kelnos 6y agoWell, sure, you shouldn't be putting secrets or other sensitive data in environment variables. But garden-variety configuration is fine to put in env vars. Seems like whoever assigned you this task didn't really know what they were doing.
- b0afc375b5 6y agoOops, I've been putting secrets in environment variables since I can remember. Your comment piqued my curiousity on why this is a bad idea. Found this: https://diogomonica.com/2017/03/27/why-you-shouldnt-use-env-variables-for-secret-data/ https://diogomonica.com/2017/03/27/why-you-shouldnt-use-env-... https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/197784/is-it-unsafe-to-use-environmental-variables-for-secret-data https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/197784/is-it-un...
- Cederfjard 6y agoWhat security concerns did that alleviate?
- mrkeen 6y agoAny third party code in our system can just read whatever's in the environment and POST it to some remote server.
- kerny 6y agoAny third party code can just read your credentials file and POST it to remote server.
- mrkeen 6y agoThat's not where the credentials are stored.
- yokaze 6y agoFile permissions allow finer granularity of access control. Environment variables are visible to any user in the system.
- fps_doug 6y agoUnset them after right after evaluation.
- loopz 6y agoNot in any multi-user multi-process OS. You set environment variables in a process (ie. shell/CMD.EXE) and spawn child process (the program) from that parent. The environment variables will only be visible to those two processes.
- c0l0 6y agoLinux disagrees; try strings /proc/*/environ to see for yourself. On Solaris/SunOS, you could use `pargs -e $PID`. And so on. Having separate UIDs to run your processes A and B under shields either one from peeking at the other's environment, though. UNIX DAC is simple and powerful enough for MOST security concerns, I would argue.
- josephcsible 6y ago> Environment variables are visible to any user in the system. This is completely false in any modern OS. You can only see environment variables of your own processes.
- yrro 6y agoBold of you to assume my third party code runs with the same UID and SELinux label as my credentials-handling code. (I wish, it's April 1 after all!)
- zomgwat 6y agoAvoiding environment variables reduces the risk but doesn't eliminate it. The secrets still live in memory in some form, correct? However, it does help to eliminate generic attempts to exfiltrate environment variables. Tight control of egress network traffic is better but more difficult to implement.
- remram 6y agoLinux is usually configured to not allow processes from another user to read /proc/$pid/environ. At least a production machine should be. Configuration files are resistant to this as you note, but command-line arguments are not (--password=1234 will show up in ps for everyone).